Swami Venkataraman, CFA Associate Managing Director, ESG Moody's Ratings

Swami Venkataraman, CFA, is an Associate Managing Director in Moody’s Environmental, Social and Governance group. He manages a team of analysts responsible for the development of ESG analytic tools, assessments and the integration of ESG considerations into Moody’s credit ratings and research. He is the primary spokesperson for Moody’s Investors Service on ESG and sustainable finance with regulators and investors. Before moving to the ESG team, Swami was a lead analyst in the North American utilities and infrastructure team, with rating committee chair responsibilities. Prior to Moody’s, he was a project and export finance banker with Standard Chartered bank in Asia.

Swami has broad credit and banking expertise in the power, clean energy and infrastructure sectors over the past 20 years. He has worked in New York, San Francisco, London, Mumbai and Mexico City. Swami is a CFA charter holder, with a B.Tech in Electronics Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras and an M.B.A. in finance from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM),Calcutta.

Stephen Tulenko President Moody's Analytics

Stephen Tulenko is the President of Moody's Analytics, a division of Moody's that provides financial intelligence and analytical tools to help business leaders make better, faster decisions. Prior to his current role, Steve served as the Executive Director of the Enterprise Risk Solutions business, and the Executive Director of Sales, Customer Service, and Marketing, both within Moody's Analytics. Prior to the formation of Moody's Analytics, he held various sales, product development, and product strategy roles in Moody's Investors Service. Steve joined Moody's in 1990. Steve has a Bachelor's degree in Economics and Business Administration from the University of Notre Dame and an MBA in Finance, Marketing and International Business from the Stern School of Business at New York University.

Atsi Sheth Managing Director, Chief Credit Officer and Global Head of Credit Strategy & Standards Moody's Ratings

Atsi Sheth is Managing Director and Global Head, Credit Strategy and Research.

Moody’s Credit Strategy & Research group includes global teams focused on Macroeconomic Research, Default & Ratings Analytics and Global Emerging Markets as well as regional credit strategy teams each focused on Asia-Pacific, the Americas, and EMEA.

Together these teams establish and articulate Moody’s house views on the trends that drive risk across countries, sectors and asset classes. They undertake in depth data driven analysis and leverage the expertise of ratings and research analysts across Moody’s to generate global, regional and sector insights on macro-economic, political, policy, technology and environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks.

In her capacity leading the group, Atsi also serves as a spokesperson on Moody’s analytic views, engaging with investors, the media and a wide range of public and private sector stakeholders.

Atsi is a long-time champion of Moody’s Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DE&I) as well as our Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives. She serves as co-chair of the CSR Thought Leadership & Solutions working group and the Senior Advisor to Moody’s Asian Leadership Initiative - a Multicultural Business Resource Group.

Prior to her current role, Atsi was Moody’s Chief Credit Officer for the Americas and before that Managing Director in Moody’s Sovereign Risk Group. She has also served as Chief Economist at Reliance Capital and taught courses on International Political Economy and Emerging Markets at Columbia University and Northwestern University. Atsi has a PhD from Northwestern University and a B.A. from Bombay University.

Nigel Topping UN High-Level Climate Action Champion COP26

Nigel Topping, CMG was appointed by the UK Prime Minister as UN Climate Change High Level Champion for COP26. In this role Nigel mobilised global private sector and local government to take bold action on climate change, launching the Race To Zero and Race To Resilience campaigns and, with Mark Carney, the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero. Nigel is now a global advisor to governments, financial institutions and private companies on climate and industrial strategy.  He is a non-executive director of the UK Infrastructure Bank, an Honorary Professor of Economics at Exeter University and was awarded the honor of CMG in Queen Elizabeth’s final honors list in 2022. 

Nigel read Mathematics at St Johns and won two rugby blues, before entering a career in the manufacturing industry.

Jimmy Greer Vice President, ESG Outreach and Research Moody’s ESG Solutions

Jimmy Greer is Vice President - ESG Outreach & Research for Moody’s ESG Solutions Group (MESG). In this role, Jimmy leads ESG-related outreach and engagement activities with stakeholders and the creation of original research on a range of ESG issues.

Jimmy joined MESG from The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), the global professional accountancy body. As Head of Sustainability at ACCA, he led activities across the organization to advance the role of finance professionals in engaging with ESG issues. In this capacity, he created award-winning research and engaged with policymakers around the world on topics including climate action, social impact measurement and management, business model innovation, the SDGs and ESG risk management.

Jimmy is a seasoned speaker and his work has featured in global media outlets.

Jimmy is a passionate advocate for social and environmental change. He holds an MSc. in Globalisation and Latin American Development from the School of Advanced Study at the University of London.

Jennifer Chang Vice President – Senior Credit Officer, Environmental, Social and Governance Group Moody’s Ratings

Jennifer Chang is a Vice President – Senior Credit Officer in Moody’s Environmental, Social and Governance Group, with a primary focus in physical climate risks and materiality as it pertains to credit risks across various industries.

Prior to the ESG Group, Jennifer was the Public Power Sector Lead in the Global Project and Infrastructure Finance Group, and covered a range of infrastructure sectors including transportation, social infrastructure and power projects in the Americas. She also led new power project finance and public-private partnership rating assignments.

Jennifer launched the Infrastructure in Emerging Markets’ series, and is the author of several reports on PPPs, power and drillship transactions including special comments on airport concessions, express tolled lanes, credit enhancements and power project carbon transition. She recently published climate-related reports on physical climate risk assessments and credit impact of urban floods.

She is the receiver of three Moody’s Research Awards, including the report on Hydrogen – Electric Utilities and Power Projects. She is a frequent speaker and presenter at various industry conferences, including the US Department of Energy – Hydrogen Shot Summit in 2021. Prior to joining Moody’s, Jennifer worked at the World Bank as an energy finance specialist in the Latin American and Caribbean and Africa regions where she helped co-author the Brazil Low Carbon Case Study report, and worked on large scale electricity distribution rehabilitation projects in Brazil, Honduras and Malawi. Prior to the World Bank, Jennifer worked at BNP Paribas covering North American utilities, and at the Royal Bank of Scotland and at Credit Agricole covering media and telecom. She has a Bachelor of Science and Business Administration in Finance and Accounting from Drexel University and a Masters from the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University (SIPA) with a concentration in International Energy Management and Policy. She is currently pursuing a Certification in Sustainable Water Management from Columbia University.

Alan Cohn Managing Director of Integrated Water Management New York City Department of Environmental Protection

Alan Cohn is Managing Director of Integrated Water Management at the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, where he leads initiatives to prepare water systems for climate change and population growth.  His team develops programs, partnerships, and financial incentives to conserve and recycle drinking water and protect communities and infrastructure from flooding.  These initiatives include a Water Demand Management Program, Water Conservation and Reuse Grant Program, and a Cloudburst Program and partnership with the City of Copenhagen focused on flood mitigation for extreme rain events.  He served as a senior policy advisor for water, wastewater, and solid waste on the Mayor’s Special Initiative for Rebuilding following Superstorm Sandy, managed development of the NYC Wastewater Resiliency Plan, and is currently working to implement the New York City Stormwater Resiliency Plan and initiatives to mitigate future flooding following Tropical Storm Ida. Alan represents New York City as the Staff Vice Chair of the Water Utility Climate Alliance, a group of 12 large utilities which provide leadership and collaboration on climate change issues affecting the country's water agencies.

Thomas Falcone Chief Executive Officer Long Island Power Authority

Thomas Falcone is the Chief Executive Officer of the Long Island Power Authority, the third-largest publicly owned electric utility in the United States. Mr. Falcone joined LIPA in 2014 as Chief Financial Officer and became CEO in 2015.

Since 2014, LIPA has reduced power outages by 35 percent, signed agreements for over 1,000 megawatts of clean and distributed energy, reformed and strengthened its management services contract with PSEG Long Island, obtained four credit-rating upgrades, and invested over $4.9 billion in Long Island's electric grid, while keeping electric rate adjustments below the rate of inflation.

Mr. Falcone serves on New York's Climate Action Council, the 22-member board that adopts the plans to achieve the State's greenhouse gas reduction targets, including a zero-carbon power sector by 2040 and an 85 percent reduction in state-wide emissions by 2050.

Mr. Falcone is Vice Chair of the board of the Large Public Power Council and a member of the advisory board of the Advanced Energy Research and Technology Center at Stony Brook University. Mr. Falcone also participates in the Energeia Partnership, a think-tank organization focused on challenges facing Long Island.

Prior to joining LIPA, Mr. Falcone was an investment banker and advisor to publicly-owned utilities and state and local governments. In that role, Mr. Falcone raised more than $25 billion for infrastructure investments across the country. Mr. Falcone received a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Eugene Montoya Asset Design & Structuring Expert Member Coalition for Climate Resilient Investment

Eugene Montoya is an Asset Design & Structuring Expert Member of the Coalition for Climate Resilient Investment (CCRI) since January of 2020. A flagship COP26 initiative, CCRI is private sector-led with 129 members representing USD 25tn in financial assets that are developing and piloting solutions for a more efficient integration of physical climate risks (PCRs) into investment appraisal. These efforts require a sophisticated yet iterative evaluation of climate-related impacts and dependencies beyond conventional risk-return and cost-benefit analyses for operating assets, their useful lives, and their operating environments. Eugene currently leads net-zero financed emissions measurement programming at Wells Fargo and recently joined the Board of Trustees for the Waterfront Alliance, a NYC-based non-profit focused on inspiring and effecting resilient, revitalized and accessible coastlines for all communities. The coupling of net-zero and resilience resonates with his mission of climate finance mobilization aimed at meeting various investment objectives for public and private stakeholders with respect to capital preservation, future cost savings, insurability, revenue stabilization and diversification, and triple bottom-line outcomes.

Eugene joined Wells Fargo’s Sustainability Group in January of 2020 as the company’s first dedicated climate change strategist at a senior enterprise officer level. Since joining, he’s worked steadfastly on the integration of climate-related risk and climate-related opportunity data into various use cases including TCFD reporting, financed emissions accounting, net-zero sectoral target setting for financial portfolios, and building the company’s first enterprise-scale technology solutions for climate finance applications. He proudly complements his competency in the net-zero financial economy with a special mission to accelerate Waterfront Alliance’s Waterfront Edge Design Guidelines (WEDG) uptake in the global financial system. Prior to Wells Fargo & Waterfront Alliance, Eugene was a climate action organizer and senior foreign bank examiner with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Previous to the Fed, Eugene has worked on climate-related risks & opportunities since 2009 with direct and significant experiences across the buy side, sell side, ETFs, infrastructure project finance, commercial banking, and sovereign wealth funds/United Nations climate adaptation finance.

He holds a Bachelor's from Vanderbilt University, a dual enrollment business Master's from the University of Florida and Leipzig Graduate School of Management, and a policy Master's in International Economics and Energy, Resources & Environment from Johns Hopkins SAIS. He is a certified expert in Climate & Renewable Energy Finance from the Frankfurt School-UNEP Centre as well as holds a Certificate in Advanced Financial Risk Management for Banking & Financial Services from NYU – School of Professional Studies.

Natalie Ambrosio Preudhomme Associate Director, Commercial Real Estate Moody’s Analytics

Natalie Ambrosio Preudhomme is an Associate Director at Moody’s Analytics on the Commercial Real Estate thought leadership team, where she does research and outreach focused on climate and ESG. Previously Natalie led climate-related thought leadership at Moody’s ESG Solutions which she joined through the acquisition of Four Twenty Seven, a leading provider of data on physical climate risk. At Four Twenty Seven she led communications and editorial strategy, leveraging her background in climate adaptation, communications and environmental sciences to translate technical information into actionable insights for climate risk assessment and resilience-building across sectors. Previously, Natalie helped develop an assessment of U.S. cities’ vulnerabilities to climate change and their readiness to adapt, at the Notre Dame Global Adaptation Initiative (ND-GAIN). Natalie holds a B.S. in Environmental Science, a Certificate in Journalism, Ethics, and Democracy from the University of Notre Dame and a Certificate in Climate and Investing from the CFA UK.

Gloria Jimenez, PhD Market & Product Specialist - Catastrophe Risk Management RMS

Gloria Jimenez is a climate scientist and catastrophe modeler passionate about engaging with the insurance/financial services sector to meaningfully address climate change. Now a Market and Product Specialist helping to launch the next generation climate model solutions at RMS/Moody’s, she holds an M.S. in Earth and Planetary Sciences from the University of New Mexico and a Ph.D. in Geosciences from the University of Arizona.

Damian Wach, AIA, LEED AP BD+C Vice President PGIM Real Estate

Damian Wach is a Vice President with PGIM Real Estate. In this role he oversees property-level risk management, including environmental, engineering, construction, and climate change resiliency.  As a member of the PGIM Real Estate Debt ESG Council, Damian also develops and promotes internal sustainability, resiliency, and energy efficiency strategy.  These responsibilities encompass PGIM Real Estate’s global loan collateral footprint, including domestic Capital Markets, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, FHA and Core portfolios, as well as international Core Debt portfolios in Europe and Asia.  Damian is a licensed Professional Architect, LEED Certified Accredited Professional (AP) and Chairman of the ASTM E-06.25 Committee on Standards for Whole Building Performance.  Damian currently serves on the Commercial Real Estate Finance Council (CREFC) Sustainability Steering Committee and is a member of the American Institute of Architects, the Environmental Bankers Association, the Commercial Real Estate Finance Council and the Mortgage Bankers Association.  

PGIM Real Estate is an international commercial multifamily and agricultural mortgage finance business. Leveraging Prudential’s 130-year history in real estate finance, the company offers one of the most comprehensive lines of real estate finance products and originates loans for Fannie Mae DUS™, FHA and Freddie Mac Targeted Affordable programs; Prudential’s general account; and other institutional investors.

Damian has over 25 years of architectural, environmental, energy efficiency, construction, and business experience. Damian joined PGIM Real Estate in January 2013.  Prior to that, Damian served as environmental, engineering and construction risk manager for Eurohypo AG, an international commercial real estate lender.  Prior to that Damian spent six years at Bureau Veritas, managing environmental and engineering due diligence for a large national due diligence provider.  

Damian earned a BA and BS in Architecture from The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.  He subsequently received an MBA from Loyola College in Baltimore, Maryland.

John Huang, CFA Director, Fixed Income Responsible Investing, Data and Technology AllianceBernstein

John Huang is a Vice President and Director of Fixed Income Responsible Investing, Data and Technology. In this role, he is part of the leadership team that develops responsible investment strategy across AB’s Fixed Income business. Huang previously spent eight years as a research analyst for Commercial Real Estate Credit Research within the Securitized Assets Research team, covering commercial mortgage-backed securities in support of the firm’s global fixed-income portfolios. Prior to that, he was an associate portfolio manager on the Fixed Income Multi-Sector team, serving US Core and Core Plus clients. Huang joined AB in 2005 as an attribution analyst and developed the firm’s proprietary fixed-income attribution platform. Prior to that, he worked as a performance analyst at UBS. Huang holds a BS in finance and information technology and an MBA from the State University of New York, Binghamton. He also holds a Series 7 license and is a CFA charterholder. Location: New York

Matt Kuchtyak Vice President – Sustainable Finance, Regional Manager Second Party Opinions Americas Moody's Investors Service

Matt Kuchtyak is Vice President – Sustainable Finance for Moody’s ESG Solutions Group (MESG). In this capacity, Matt is responsible for the origination and publication of thematic research related to the global sustainable finance markets. He has authored Moody’s market-leading quarterly sustainable finance market update since its inception in 2015 and has developed into a leading market voice on sustainable finance developments.

Matt leads outreach and engagement on sustainable finance issues, cultivating relationships with asset managers, asset owners, financial institutions, corporations, standard setters and other market participants. He frequently participates in high-profile outreach including investor briefings, webinars, third-party conferences and media engagements. Matt also represents MESG on a variety of industry initiatives, such as the International Capital Market Association’s Green Bond Principles (GBP) working groups.

Before his current role, Matt was an analyst on the ESG team at Moody’s Investors Service (MIS), where he advanced the rating agency’s efforts to systematically and transparently incorporate ESG considerations into its credit ratings. He was a key contributor to the development of MIS’s cross-sector ESG methodology, launch of ESG Issuer Profile Scores and Credit Impact Scores and the development of Carbon Transition Assessments. He was also the lead analyst for the MIS Green Bond Assessments. Previously, Matt was an analyst in the MIS US Public Finance Group, where he served as a lead analyst for a diverse portfolio of hospitals, public and private universities and other not-for-profits.

Matt is a corporate social responsibility (CSR) impact leader, working directly with Moody’s CSR team to shape, communicate and implement the firm's global CSR strategy and initiatives. He holds a B.A. in Economics and Political Science summa cum laude from Rutgers University-New Brunswick, and is a member of Phi Beta Kappa.

Nick Samuels SVP - Senior Credit Officer, States and High Profile Ratings Team Moody's Ratings

Nick Samuels is a Senior Vice President for the States and High Profile Ratings Team covering credits for the state of Texas, New York City, and the District of Columbia.

Prior to joining Moody’s, Nick worked for the National Association of State Budget Officers analyzing state fiscal and expenditure trends. Nick holds a BA degree in government from Skidmore College and a Master’s in Public Administration from the George Washington University.

Edward Gengler Vice President, Investment Banking Goldman Sachs

Edward Gengler is a Vice President in the Investment Banking Division at Goldman Sachs. He focuses on real estate and structured finance transactions at the intersection of the public and private sectors. Prior to his time at Goldman Sachs, he worked at Ernst & Young. He graduated from the University of Virginia, and he is a member of the board of directors for ARCHIVE Global, a New York-based international non-profit organization that focuses on the link between health and housing.

Patrick McCoy Deputy Chief, Financial Services Metropolitan Transportation Authority

Patrick McCoy is the Deputy Chief, Financial Services at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) in New York. He is responsible for MTA’s access to the capital markets and directs the issuance of MTA and TBTA municipal bonds under the MTA’s multi credit borrowing structure. He is responsible for the MTA’s $50 billion debt portfolio, which includes variable rate products, derivatives and fixed rate obligations. Pat is also responsible for Capital Program Funding and MTA’s Treasury operations.  Pat first joined the MTA in 2002 as a Deputy Director in the Finance Department. He was promoted to Director in 2004 and served in this capacity through December 2006.

Pat served as the Executive Director of the New York City Municipal Water Finance Authority from January 2007 through August 2008. New York Water is a public benefit corporation of the City of New York that provides capital financing for the City’s water and sewer system.

Pat rejoined the MTA as Director of Finance in September 2008 and served in that capacity until March 2021, when he was promoted to Deputy Chief of Financial Services.

Patrick’s previous positions:

•Manager of Investor Relations for the NewPower Company, a publicly traded retail energy provider headquartered in Purchase, New York.

•Supervising Analyst in the Financial Communications group of Fleishman‐Hillard, a global public relations firm.

•Manager of Investor Relations for the New York City Municipal Water Finance Authority, the Transitional Finance Authority (TFA) and TSASC, Inc. (Tobacco Securitization).

•Senior Budget Analyst, Office of Management and Budget, Community Development Unit.

Patrick currently serves on the Corporate Board of the Westchester County Health Care Corporation and MTA’s Defined Benefit Pension Plan. In addition, Pat is a Past President (2017-2018) of the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada (GFOA).

Patrick has a M.S. Degree in Urban Policy Analysis and Management from the New School University in New York, and a B.A. from St. Ambrose University in Davenport, Iowa.